"REALTOR UNJUSTLY TAKES THE BLAME"

A Realtor from Norwich, Ct referred a client to me recently. The clients have been in this country for 6 years, they came from Peru, they were buying a 2 family in New London, Ct. As I'm sure you can understand, English was not their primary language. When the Realtor made the referral, he was already aware that my office has two Spanish speaking loan officers and a Spanish speaking processor. He told me that he had already negotiated a purchase agreement and I asked if there were any issues we needed to review with the clients about the purchase agreement, he said no. He explained their cousin was with the clients the entire time and acted as the translator.

I met with the clients, had one of our Spanish speaking loan officers present and the application went flawlessly. Everything was explained in English and Spanish and all was good. Since they did not have an attorney or insurance agent, we referred them to folks that were Spanish speaking as well. Our processor did a great job working with them, so the mortgage process went well and in 4 weeks the loan was ready to close.

The day of the closing, the buyers and sellers attorney were putting the normal stuff together for the closing, when an issue showed up about the tenant. The buyers thought they would have both units available and it turns out the 2^nd floor tenant has a lease for 6 additional months. The Realtor said he explained the rental agreement and said he gave them a copy at the time the purchase agreement was signed. He indicated that the cousin supposedly explained the tenant issue, but it did not matter the buyers didn't get it.

It cost the Realtor some money to work through the problem, but he felt an obligation to work out a settlement. He did above and beyond the call of duty, but was unjustly judged by the buyers. He had thought the buyers cousin had explained the lease and tenant issue. Even though the buyers were upset with him, he was unjustly blamed, but made it right. He is an honorable guy.